I've been toying with the idea of having the MC of my next novel be a gay African American man. The fear that I'm currently having is that, due to me not being African American, will I be able to effectively write this character? As a whole, his race isn't going to play into the story too much. The occasional racist asshole or comment here and there may set off his hair-trigger temper, and he may get into more than a few fights, but not much beyond that. I'll give you a brief overview of the idea: MC is a monster hunter (I know, super original). He became such when his best friend, and closeted crush, is killed by a god (the gods of most polytheistic religions live on earth), though he doesn't know which one did it. The attack on his best friend also leaves his left arm onyx black and dead, rendering it unusable. With the damage, though, came access to some of the god's power. Whenever MC taps into the power, the arm rights itself and can be used as a conduit for the god's power. However, the more he uses the power, the more the blackness creeps over the rest of his body. As of right now, it's currently engulfed his entire left shoulder and part of his chest. MC is called to investigate what's believed to be a supernatural murder and recognizes the state of the body as matching his friend's state. This initiates a whole noir-style investigation in which MC interacts with many gods and creatures to get information about this mysterious god, all while being hunted by that god's minions. Now then, my main question, I suppose, is whether or not you believe that his race would have a massive impact on this story or if it's more of just a secondary characteristic. I'm not married to the idea and wouldn't really mind if I had to change his race, but, after a bit of self-reflection, I found that pretty much every main character that I write is Caucasian, so I figured I could shake things up a bit.
I actually do have really easy/important tip for this, and I’m surprised I never see anyone say it. The #1 tip I have for you is “if you’re going to include one black character, include multiple black characters.” This goes for most types of minorities. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but the main reason is because it forces you not to stereotype— and it shows the reader, hey, there’s a lot of different ways to be a black person. (Or gay person. Or purple-polka-dotted person. Or what have you.) It also lends a certain perspective to the story. If you have one black character and he’s an idiot, that can come across as racist. If you have ten black character and one of them is an idiot (and everyone else rolls their eyes), that’s just Bob being Bob. Same goes for the gay thing. I once read a romance novel where there was one token gay character. He was a sassy diva queen with no life. He existed solely to be the female main character’s “gay best friend.” I know that real gay people can exist like that, but I rolled my eyes so hard. The thing about the racist comments— that might backfire on you. Sometimes people just want to read a story about their minority without it being a big deal. JMO, though. ETA: also, to answer your actual question, race can have a big impact on the character... or no impact on the character. It’s up to you. Some people feel their background is deeply important to them. Some don’t.
I’m a little concerned about the symbolism of “blackness” being what overtakes and destroys a black character. Any possibility that the turning-to-stone could be a different color?
Gay, AND Black? All he has to be is trans, and you've hit the trifecta. Lol, seriously though. Just write him like any other character. If they are from a certain area in the world where their speech has a certain accent that can be expressed through prose, then research it and make sure to include it if you want that character to have that. (Example modern slang vs 40s slang of AAs is very different; you'd research this and apply it to your tastes). Other than that, writing an AA character is just like writing any other character. And.... it would not have a impact on the story, considering the fact that your story is not really centered around race, but more supernatural and magical. Sincerely, Some Black Guy.
This really should answer your question. I'm with @D.Clarke, if his race isn't going to play much into the story then it shouldn't play much into how you write him. He should just be like any other character you would write except he has dark skin and occasionally someone says something racist to him. After that, as a reader, he should just feel like a person we can relate to no matter what his skin color is.
I would recommend checking out the Tumblr blog Writing With Color just on general principle but more specifically, I would also like to second the suggestions of "make sure he's not the only Black character" and "have the color that's corrupting his body be something other than black"
Despite being someone with no credentials relevant here, I'll also agree with the general sentiment that just writing the character without racial difference except for the occasional relatively minor racial reference is the best approach. If you play it up majorly, it's probably going to come up as either racist, politically charged, or just trying too hard.
Okay, listen. This is really important. I am going to tell you the secret to writing black characters. You write them just like you'd write any other character. Remember that. There is no rule or anything you have to get right - unless its some sort of special case where skin color and culture or whatever is playing a rule. But, if not and race doesn't factor into his daily thought then don't worry about it. You'll be good.
Alright, thanks for all the feedback everyone! I've changed the color of the corruption to be a maroon red, which I feel will also create more interactions about it, to which our MC will reply with something different, but just as smart-assy, every time. I don't plan on having him be the only black character, not by far, so that base is covered as well.
I don't know why, but somehow I find the idea that this character will be black really cool. If I'm honest, I feel you've basically described someone who might be seen as "typically black" - short temper, a strong fighter, fierce, which can tip over to being savage, reckless. If you consider the way black people are generally perceived - talking about stereotypes and cultural perceptions - black people are more likely be to seen as criminals, thugs (so physical strength comes with the territory), thieves, given to their emotions, and obviously in history blacks were seen as savages, animals, without civilisation. I'm just thinking out loud here - could this be why you thought of making the character black? Not consciously, of course. I don't mean that you thought, "Hey I want this character to be a good fighter with a temper to match - let's make him black!" But could any of these general perceptions have influenced what you felt was a suitable character? At the same time, sometimes stereotypes are seen as attractive. It resonates with people because that's how they believe something to be true. In this light, I think it would depend whether you want to write a commercially successful, entertaining novel, or whether you want to write a story that challenges a reader's preconceptions. In any case, I'd read that book. Let me know when you have a finished draft! I think I might wanna be your beta reader I love crime and mystery combined with elements of fantasy. I know yours is more like the occult and paranormal, but there are similarities. It actually reminded me of @KaTrian 's paranormal crime novel where an undead MC and a detective searches for the MC's murderer, and in the midst of this run into vampires and gods and the like. I'm not sure if she's still looking for beta readers but just thinking you two may enjoy each other's stories?
Honestly, I never really thought too deeply about it. When I started to envision this world and this character, he was just always black to me. It could stem from the fact that I've seen very few noir-style characters be black. Also, I will admit that, when the idea was forming in my brain, I couldn't help but draw some comparisons to Shadow Moon from the television adaption of American Gods. There are some massive differences, mainly being the protagonist's temper (Shadow Moon is usually pretty cool-headed, from the episodes I have watched, while my protagonist, Myles Greene, is a bit of a hothead and can be too cocky for his own good), and the way I portray the gods themselves (In American Gods, they aren't necessarily all-powerful, they can just influence things slightly such as the weather and peoples' emotions. In my novel, they'll have more direct power, but won't have the ability to influence things outside of themselves too profoundly).
I don't know Shadow Moon, but I still think "hothead" and "too cocky for his own good" still sounds very much like the stereotype of a black person. If you don't wanna be accused of writing a racial stereotype, I'd actually say leave out the African heritage, unless it's an important part of the story - like there's a purpose for him to be black. If you wanted to write a racial minority, there're plenty other colours to go for. A Japanese hothead would be pretty unusual. How about native Indians? It all sorta depends on why you wanted him to be black - because right now I'm seeing a lot of black stereotype in your description.
The main reason why I wanted this character to be black is because the main religion he interacts with in this story is Vodou, and the god that he interacts with the most and who he honestly considers to be his friend is Baron Samedi. Vodou is mainly practiced in Haiti, which is a predominantly black country. Then again, now that I think about it, having a Japanese-American fellow interacting with Vodou gods is a hilarious idea, and that could open a few more doors as well. You've given me a ton to think about, so I believe a heartfelt thank you is in order! Thanks a ton!
Hm. I get where you’re coming from, but I disagree. The thing about stereotypes is that they’re so common and wide that you’re going to see stereotypes in every character. If you start limiting characters too much, they end up bland, IMO. Every character is going to have ways they fit into stereotypes and ways they defy stereotypes. It’s good to look out for these things and be aware of them, but I don’t see any problems here.
Very good points. I'm still mindlessly playing around with the idea of changing my protagonist to being Japanese-American, though not because I'm afraid of "playing into stereotypes." As you mentioned, stereotypes are unavoidable, it's just how they're presented. It's more for opportunities within the story and interactions he could have, being an Asian man in a culture that's predominantly black.
I’m probably biased. I have an Asian character with overbearing/disapproving parents, a bisexual character who shamelessly sleeps around, a gay character who loves fashion, a lesbian who is super butch, and a black character who joined the military to escape inner-city poverty. But there are also things that make these characters unique and complex. These are small background facts, not character-defining features. I’ve never gotten any complaints about them. Man. Now that I think about it, I hope this doesn’t shoot me in the foot.
@CoyoteKing No worries, I'm sure it's all fine! On a side-note, I've unceremoniously renamed my character Akane Haruki Shimabukuro, though he prefers to go by Ash. He's second generation Japanese-American and, while his parents attempted to teach him about the Japanese culture, he really didn't care much about it when he was younger, so he never took to it. He was taught Japanese when he was young, but has forgotten all but the most simple phrases and, while he doesn't really immerse himself in Japanese culture, the few times he's been to Japan (on cases), he enjoyed his stay and found the place fascinating.
Interestingly, in my WIP I have a lesbian who is kinda butch and a bisexual who sleeps around, but the lesbian is also an Asian character who has very supportive parents. I don't actually have very main major black characters. But the biggest is a community-centric godfather to one of the MCs whose parents left him with him. Anyway, I agree with CoyoteKing that derogatory stereotypes are not a particularly big concern. To an extent, there's nothing with actually doing derogatory stereotypes, as most of the negative element comes from the idea that people are making these characters this way because of their race and that they are doing so often. So as long as your character has plenty of depth and realism, it shouldn't be a problem. And in this case, it's the main character, so they really ought to have depth and realism anyway. I did say it's usually a problem when it's a minor character, and the stereotypical traits can easily end up making up a large portion of what you see of the character.
@Zerotonin - glad I could help! What Kanji would the name Akane have? I only know of Akane the anime character from Ranma 1/2, which was a girl, and I also have a student in 3rd grade called Akane, also a girl. Japanese names, however, are determined by their Kanji characters, not the sound of their names, so if you can find Akane in a "male" Kanji combo, you'd be good to go. Just don't end up with what might be only a girl's name for your male character! By the way, hook up with Kat - her entire WIP is based on Voodoo too and Baron Samedi also features. She's done a tonne of research I think so you might be able to get good info from her. @CoyoteKing - I guess it's just when it's the MC, it's gonna get scrutinised a lot more, esp as MCs are often used to convey morals and messages. They are more than a character but a symbol. There's nothing wrong with writing a stereotype, but you should be aware that that's what you are doing and it's an informed decision - either because it actually serves the story or because you don't care, you just like it that way, and that's cool too. I got the sense that Zerotonin wanted to write a realistic character representative of the character's culture/heritage - in other words, the implied intention I got was: I don't want to write a stereotype. In which case, moving away from writing the character as black would be advised, because right now all the traits mentioned so far fit into stereotypes applied to black people. Writing a stereotype in and of itself isn't always an issue.
That's always an option Now, if you do go back to the character working best by being Black, then the 3 big factors I've always relied on for writing "a character with stereotypical traits" instead of "A Stereotypical Character™" are Are there other major characters with the same traits, but of different demographics Are there other major characters in the same demographic, but without the stereotypical traits Does the specific character in question have fully fleshed-out, 3-dimensional character development beyond just the specific traits in question? That said, I've run into trouble with editing my Urban Fantasy novel in that it turns out that I didn't actually hit the second criteria with my lead protagonist the way that I thought I had, but the basic principle still stands.
To be fair, it also describes about half of all characters ever written. I've literally never met anyone who doesn't fit some stereotype of who they are, but that's just because there are so many stereotypes that you're bound to be one of them.
As I was reading OP's posts, this didn't occur to me but now that you've mentioned it, maybe it's got something to do with these so-called implicit biases we have of groups. So if we think of certain attributes, we tend to associate them with certain groups due to things like media influence. Like how the nerdy guy is a pasty white Caucasian or the hotheaded lover is Latinax and or the bad driver is Asian. I'm honestly not sure if any of this can be proven, just a thought. Anyway, I do think it's cool to explore characters that aren't necessarily of the same sex or race or whatever as the author, if not for representation's sake, then at least so we can learn a bit more about each other and the backgrounds we come from. Having said that, I do tend to first and foremost write a person. I'm not big on identity politics when I write fiction. If you ever need a beta or alpha reader, I definitely volunteer! I'm currently editing my wip, and it does also feature Vodou and Voodoo stuff, as well as loas, though Baron Samedi is in a very small role. It sounds like we've personified him somewhat similarly, which is a relief to me as I've worried it's insensitive to sort of run with the voodoo/vodou lore, use loas as characters etc... He's not a god in my story, though. Just sort of like a liaison between humans and god Bondye. Anyway, hit me up if you need a reader!
I definitely appreciate the offers! This is still a very infant idea, and I've only now started to put it into words, so it'll be a while before it's anything worth sharing, but I'll keep you two in mind. Hell, maybe when I'm done with the first chapter, I'll send it to both of you to let you know generally where I'm going with the character. I hope you like Rougarous (or don't like them), because the first chapter, to introduce his character, is going to be him hunting one!
